Watershed Protection Technology Selection and Permitting Simplified by the EPA/NSF Environmental Technology Verification Pilots

This paper presents an overview of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program which was established to overcome the numerous impediments to commercialization experienced by developers of innovative environmental technologies. Among the most frequently mentioned is the lack of credible performance data. It is believed that objective, independently acquired, high quality performance data and operational information on new technologies will significantly facilitate the use, permitting, financing, export, purchase, and general marketplace acceptance of such technologies. The ETV program was established to provide such data and information to the customer groups in order to accelerate the real world implementation of improved technology. This paper describes the ETV approach and two recently initiated pilot programs for verification testing of source water protection technologies and wet-weather flow technologies conducted in association with the NSF International, EPA's verification partner organization for these activities.